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Ukrainian TJX hacking suspect arrested in India

Bring on the extradition proceedings

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A Ukrainian national accused of helping to hack into nine US retailers and making off with data for millions of credit cards has been arrested in India, IDG News has reported.

Sergey Valeryevich Storchark was arrested earlier this week in New Delhi as he deplaned from a flight from Goa, the news service said, citing a spokesman with India's Central Bureau of Investigation. He was in New Delhi on a layover before flying to Turkey.

The arrest is a major victory for US law enforcement agents, who are pressing for Storchark's extradition via diplomatic channels. It's often next to impossible to extradite suspected hackers from many eastern European countries. "His extradition and prosecution would have been very unlikely had he reached his final destination of Ukraine," Indian authorities said in a statement.

Storchark was one of 11 men charged in August 2008 with hacking the networks of TJX and other retailers. The ringleader of the operation, Albert Gonzalez, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in March after pleading guilty in three separate cases brought in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.